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Father Bulinda, Father Klem and Father Metzger: thank you for celebrating such a beautiful Baccalaureate Mass on behalf of the very first graduating class of Saint Patrick Catholic School, the Class of 2008, here in the very location where 150 years ago, in 1858, Father Mathew O’Keefe and his faithful parishioners raised this lapidary and soaring Phoenix (called St. Mary’s) from the ashes of St. Patrick Catholic Church.
Young men and ladies of the Class of 2008, it is difficult for me to pick out just a few words for utterance this evening that you will remember tomorrow morning, much less allow to influence your lives in the years to come.
In elementary school, high school, college, and law school, I heard eloquent speakers at graduation masses, baccalaureate services and commencement exercises, but if you asked me tonight what any of them said, my best guess would be, “eat your vegetables”, “sit up straight” and “mind your mother”.
I doubt I can improve upon any of those memorable and valuable words, but nonetheless let me offer just a couple.
The first one is Debt.
Now, debt is not necessarily good or bad. It can actually be good, if it is used for productive purposes, resulting in something valuable that will long outlast the debt. For example, my fellow Trustees and I borrowed a fair amount of money to build Saint Patrick’s, and we are repaying that loan every month. Your parents may have taken out a mortgage to purchase your home. In each case, as long as the borrower can afford to repay the loan within a reasonable time, the enduring value of what the debt financed justifies the borrowing.
Debt can be an unhealthy thing, however, when what the borrower purchased with it is consumed or dissipates in value well before the debt is ever repaid. Or when the borrower runs up a debt he cannot afford. Much of our country’s credit card debt would fall into these categories. It is a debt that chains you down.
If I wanted to worry you (which I would never do), I would mention that, thanks to the profligacy of my generation, each of you is in the bad kind of debt up to your eyeballs.
That’s because your share of the $9 trillion national debt is $30,000 per person—and growing. And that debt does not include the $45 trillion deficit in Social Security and Medicare currently projected over your lifetimes. Your share of that additional debt is a mere $150,000 each.
What to do under the staggering weight of that kind of unhealthy debt?
Your parents would be upset with me if I advised you to take all your savings and play the lottery. No, we must pray that the education you received at Saint Patrick’s and that you will receive in high school and beyond, will prepare you well for a productive future. If your generation is to see better times (and if my generation is ever to see a Social Security check), then you will need to think critically, solve problems responsibly, act creatively, communicate articulately, forge productive relationships, serve others selflessly, and lead with integrity—in other words, you will need to embody the traits, and exhibit the talents, of the Saint Patrick’s Grad at Graduation.
Based on my faith in you and the other Saint Patrick’s graduates to follow you, I am optimistic that we will climb out of the hole created by the “unhealthy kind of debt”.
That will leave only the “good kind of debt” that, whether you realize it or not, you have drawn on your own account over the last several years. It’s the type of debt that was given as a gift and no one will ever ask you to repay. It is the debt that has purchased the bright future lying before you.
I assume you realize—but do you really appreciate?—the sacrifice in time, energy and resources that your parents have made to provide you with a Saint Patrick’s education over the past several years. I seriously doubt that any of your parents have presented you with a bill, or asked you to sign a promissory note, but perhaps you might acknowledge this debt with a hug before you go to bed tonight. Your parents have used this debt to purchase a gift for you that will continue to benefit you—and bring you happiness—when you reach their age and beyond.
I hope you will also consider what you owe your teachers, who have worked longer, harder hours for less pay at Saint Patrick’s than they would have in most other schools, because they believe in the sacred mission of this Catholic school, because they believed in you, and because they believed it worthwhile to identify, nurture and celebrate your God-given gifts. Gifts that have grown and will endure over a lifetime.
Please remember too these pastors and the other priests who have volunteered their time to visit you at school, to say Mass and to support the growth of your faith. Could there be a gift of more lasting value than the gift of your faith?
Although, as I confessed earlier, I cannot remember what any of my graduation speakers said, I will never forget what my old high school headmaster, J.B. Massey, used to say to me, usually when he was disappointed with my performance in some activity. He would say, “Chuck, the worse thing I could ever tell you is that I don’t expect much from you.” Think about that statement for a moment. “The worse thing I could ever tell you is that I don’t expect much from you.”
Well, young men and ladies of the Class of 2008, in light of all that you have been given and all that you have accomplished, I pray that you will take it as a compliment when I tell you that, in fact, I do expect a lot from you.
When you came to visit me in my office a couple of weeks ago, we discussed a project where, as a class, you did not live up to these high expectations. On this happy and hopeful evening, I feel no need to describe this disappointment again—do any of you?
No, I wouldn’t think so. And I sense that each of you is the type of person who fully intends to repay all of the good debt you have incurred at Saint Patrick’s—the only way you can—by remembering and living out the one other word I would ask you to remember from this evening.
That word is “duty”. Duty is an old-fashioned word. It does not necessarily sound glamorous or fun. But contrary to some of the messages in today’s culture, the truth is that doing one’s duty is the only path to a successful and happy life. The most miserable, weighted-down people I know are the ones who forsook duty for selfish gratification, who never repaid the debt that enabled them to indulge their empty pleasures. These people are profoundly unhappy and enslaved because, somewhere in their conscience or soul, they feel trapped by their failure to use their God-given gifts for anything of lasting value.
By contrast, those who discharge their duty are the happiest, most fulfilled, free-est people I know. Benjamin Franklin, a free spirit if ever there was, claims to have been guided by a verse from Proverbs, Chapter 22, that his father often read to him as a child: “Seeest thou a man diligent in his calling, he shall stand before Kings.”
In telling the Parable of the Faithful and Wise Servant—where we are reminded that we do not know the day or the hour when the Son of Man will return— Jesus tells us that all the gifts we receive create a solemn duty on our part: “From those to whom much has been given, much will be expected.” That was Jesus’ way of saying that he expects a lot from you (and me).
I implore you, Class of 2008, for your sake: fulfill your duty to worship God, to love your family and to serve your Church, your friends, your neighbors, your city and country. Fulfill your duty to tell the truth and to act with integrity. Fulfill your duty to use your gifts, develop your potential, and apply your talents to make this City (or whatever corner of the world you ultimately live in) a place of greater justice, a place where the sacredness of human life is upheld, and a place where the duty we all owe—to love our neighbors as ourselves—is fulfilled and celebrated daily.
We gather for a wonderful celebration this weekend. Class of 2008: we celebrate your accomplishments. But we also celebrate the lasting joy, peace and freedom that are purchased only by doing one’s duty, as God gives each of us the light to see that duty. Your education at Saint Patrick’s has prepared you to see that duty more clearly. In performing that duty, you will retire the debt that no one else can retire for you. As I am sure you have already figured out, that’s because it is a duty you owe to yourself. In performing that duty, therefore, you will set yourself free.
Amen and may God forever hold the Class of 2008 in the palm of His hand.
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